Centre sends top official to report on suicides
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 29
Not believing what the Punjab Government reports say on the burning issue of suicide by farmers, the Union Government has rushed its own top functionary to have a quick tour of the state to collect the information in this connection.

As most of the state governments have a tendency to conceal the issue of farmers’ suicide, the Centre is keen to have first hand reports regarding the prevailing situation and also about the causes and effects of suicides.

Various Human Rights Organisations have been flooding the Union Government with reports regarding suicides. However, as such organisations have their own agenda and a definite angle and the state government remains reluctant to project the real picture regarding suicides, the Union Government has thought it proper to hold its own exercise in this regard, says a senior officer.

For the past four days, Ms B.K. Teja, Adviser, Commission for Agriculture Costs and Price, has visited the most affected Malwa belt to interact with select families, whose kin committed suicide. She has been to various villages of Bathinda, Mansa and Sangrur districts. Though, she was accompanied by senior officers of the Punjab Agricultural Department, she interacted with the affected families on-a-one to one basis not allowing officers to be part of the interaction.

However, later in presence of officers, she met members of the panchayats to discuss with them suicides and various agricultural-related problems, such as factors leading to heavy debt, cost of production etc.

She has come armed with her own list of villages. In Bathinda she has been to Sandhoha, Lehra Durkot and Harkishanpura villages. Harkishanpura is among the worst affected villages as far as the debt problem is concerned. Almost all farmers of that village had once petitioned to the state government to buy their land to free them from the debt problem. In Mansa she visited Gurne Kalan and Gurne Khurad villages and in Sangrur, she has been to Andana and Balra villages. She is doing a survey of the problem.

Today she met the Financial Commissioner (Development), Mr P.K. Verma, to discuss the problem and to have the government’s perspective on it. Earlier, this morning, she met Prof H.S. Shergill and Prof S.L. Sharma, two leading experts, who have documented the problem of farmers’ debt and suicides.

When approached by this correspondent, Ms Teja refused to talk on the issue. “ I am on an official visit. I am not supposed to make comment in this regard. I have been interacting with all those having dealt with this issue. Besides visiting various affected villages in the countryside, I have also been meeting officers concerned to prepare a report for the Centre”, she said, refusing to say anything further in this regard.

How many farmers have committed suicides? No one has the definite answer to this question. The latest, Punjab Government report submitted to the Centre says that over 2,100 farmers have committed suicides in the state in the past 15 years. Suicides started in 1988 when first time the cotton crop failed in the Malwa belt. However, Mr Inderjit Singh Jaijee, who was the first to study and raise this issue, says that the number was far higher than what the government says. “ Punjab’s condition is worse than Andhra Pradesh”, he adds. During Capt Amarinder Singh Government rule he has recorded 231 suicides in the Malwa belt. “ Most unfortunate aspect of suicides is that even the affected families have to hide information in this connection because of police fear and other related legal complications”, he adds.

Patiala, October 29
Akal Takth Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti today urged Sikh scholars to prepare an authentic translation with the annotation of Gurbani, which could be
translated into other languages to popularise the Sikh philosophy.

Participating in a seminar, organised to commemorate the 500th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Angad Dev, at Punjabi University here, the Jathedar said though Gurmukhi script was prevalent prior to Guru Nanak, it was with the efforts of Guru Angad that put in the perfect shape.

In his keynote address a noted scholar, Dr Jaswant Singh Neki, exhorted the scholars to shun “ego”, which according to him was the basic hindrance to attain proximity with the Almighty.

In his presidential address, Vice-Chancellor Swarn Singh Boparai said it was the philosophy of Gurbani which had encouraged us to stick to the ideas of highest orders, bestowed by the Sikh Gurus.

He further stated that it was the influence of principles of Gurbani which established the highest status of women in society.

He added that the inclusion of Guru Nanak Dev’s philosophy in M.A. course, translation of Mahan Kosh by Bhai Kahan Singh Nabha into English and the establishment of Gurmat Sangeet Chair were some of the major projects undertaken by the university to celebrate the historic events.

He further said Punjabi University had established “Centre for Technical Development of Punjabi Language”, which was committed to make Guru Angad Dev’s gift of Punjabi script globally available on Internet.

Earlier, Dr Ranjit Singh Ghuman, Dean, College Development Council and Convener of the seminar while welcoming the guests, said it was a matter of privilege and pride for all to witness and be a part of the historical events.

He further said though bani of Guru Angad Dev was quantitatively small but it
contains rich treasures for the welfare of humanity. Dr S.P.S. Virdi, Dean, Academic Affairs, while presenting the vote of thanks gave the detailed information regarding university activities in celebrating the historical centenaries.

Amritsar, October 29
The position of the Jathedar, Akal Takht, Giani Joginder Singh Vedanti, today eroded further when Baldev Singh, who was booked on charges of molesting the wife of a
raagi, accused Jathedar Vedanti of lying.

Earlier, 11 members of the Dhadi Jatha recited ‘Satnam
Waheguru’ in front of the Akal Takht for an hour in protest against the indifferent attitude of Jathedar Vedanti in dealing with the ‘molestation case’.

Baldev Singh said that instead of summoning two members of the ‘fact-finding’ committee, who had indicted him for molesting the women without hearing him, Jathedar Vedanti was giving ‘lame excuses’ that the case was subjudice.

He said the fact remains that the Dhadi Jatha had never asked the Jathedar to summon the complainant or her supporters which could hamper the court proceedings. He said the Sri Guru Hargobind Sahib Shiromani Dhadi Jatha would intensify its ‘peaceful’ protest in case Jathedar Vedanti failed to summon Bhai Ram Singh , the general secretary and both the members of the fact finding committee by November 8.

This is for the first time that a SGPC member of the ruling party has launched a campaign against the Jathedar, Akal Takht.

Chandigarh, October 29
The Punjab Government is in the dock again. Less than a fortnight after the Supreme Court of India upheld the setting aside of liquor vends auction in four districts, a liquor contractor has dragged the government to court once more.

This time contractor Sanjeev Bhandari has accused the government of issuing an auction notice contrary to the judgement delivered by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

In an application filed before the High Court, Bhandari today claimed that the state government — in its notice — directed security deposit at the rate of 15 per cent of full year's licence fee. The re-auction was, however, being conducted only for four-and-a-half months.

Elaborating upon his contention, the contractor asserted that the Supreme Court in its judgement had directed re-auction for the remaining period only. As such, all calculations — including amount of security deposit — were to be made after taking into considering the remaining period.

He alleged that the terms of re-auction had "materially been altered so as to discourage and harm his interests". "The new terms and conditions are against the inherent spirit of the judgement dated March 31", he added.

The High Court on March 31 had directed the setting aside of liquor vends auction in four districts. But the state government, instead of complying with the orders, filed a special leave petition (SLP) before the Supreme Court of India. As a result, the process of re-auction was delayed by almost seven-and-a-half months.

Giving details the petitioner added that the auction conditions had intentionally been changed by the government in connivance with liquor baron Ponti Chadha. The security condition was aimed at making the auction a failure in public eyes. The intention was to show that earlier auction held in March in Ponti Chadha's favour was fair.

The applicant added that he was "still ready to pay Rs 2 crore more, compared to Chadha's firm, for vends in Hoshiarpur district on proportionate basis for the remaining period".

The auctions had come under severe criticism right from the beginning with Mr Bhandari and some advocates moving the High Court. In a public interest litigation, the advocate and other petitioners had questioned the state's decision to allot liquor vends on "lesser price when other contractors were ready to pay more".

Mr Bhandari, in his petition, had alleged that liquor vends in Nawanshahar were allotted to Mr Chadha's firm for Rs 37 crore against an available bid of Rs 40 crore. Appearing before the court, Mr Mohan Jain had submitted on the petitioner's behalf that the auction for vends in Hoshiarpur was closed at Rs 70 crore despite the fact that the petitioner and his associates had offered Rs 72 crore.

Rs 126 cr not transferred to board by state govt: panelTribune News Service

Patiala, October 29
The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) Engineers Association claim that the state government has not transferred Rs 126 crore released by the Centre eight months ago to strengthen transmission and distribution system to the PSEB.

Addressing a press conference here, the president of the association, Mr M.S. Bajwa, and the secretary, Mr H.S. Bedi, alleged that the funds, which were to be transferred within a week, had been diverted to meet the “unproductive ” and “extravagant” expenditure of the state government.

The engineers also alleged that the state government did not have a good track record as far as the power sector reforms were concerned. They said the execution of the 500 MW Lehra Mohabbat Project (Stage II) had been delayed by the state government though it was not expected to invest even a single penny in it.

Besides this, they claimed, the PSEB which had earned a profit of Rs 185 crore during 2003-04 was not facing a financial crunch due to withdrawal of the tariff petition on the eve of Lok Sabha elections resulting in the delay in issuing of the tariff order by the Regulatory Commission.

The association leaders said an expert group appointed by the state government, which was headed by Mr Gajendra Haldea, had envisaged a financial liability of Rs 4,000 crore on the state government for restructuring the PSEB. They said in addition to this the PSEB had utilised Rs 1,100 crore of the Group Providend Fund (GPF) amount of employees for its development works which was still to be put in a separate fund. Mr Bajwa said the proposal of the state government to unbundle PSEB into a generation and transmission units besides three distribution companies with a holding company during transition period was nothing but a replica of the failed model of reforms carried out in other parts of the country. He said unbundling of the state electricity boards had resulted in coordination problems between the different wings and had created multiplicity of top management posts with the majority of them having been grabbed by non-professionals and IAS officers.

Mr Bajwa said this apprehension had already risen in Punjab with a proposal being made that the Secretary, Power, be made the chairperson of the transmission company and IAS officers of the rank of Additional Secretaries be made ex officio members of all companies. This he said would only strengthen the stranglehold of the state government over the PSEB instead of freeing it from its clutches.

Chandigarh, October 29
The Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PHRC) has ordered the registration of a case against operators of buses, vans and autorickshaws for carrying schoolchildren packed like inanimate goods.

The order has been passed by Mr B.C. Rajput, member of the PHRC, on the basis of an “S.O.S.” complaint filed by a Ludhiana-based lawyer, Mr N.K. Jain, highlighting the “inhuman, pitiable and deplorable condition in which schoolchildren are packed like goods in school buses, vans, auto rickshaws while taking them to and from schools in Ludhiana”.

The order said that the allegations levelled in the complaint “do prima facie spell out a case under Section 12 of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993, for intervention by the commission. The complaint be registered as a case.

“A report in this connection be called for under Section 17 of the Act from the Deputy Commissioner of Ludhiana within four weeks. In the meantime, the DC shall, through District Transport Officer, ensure that the school authorities do not violate the human rights of the
schoolchildren. The checking report be also sent along with the report”.

The next hearing in the case has been fixed for December 8.

The complaint alleged that the “pathetic and chaotic condition in which these vehicles are overloaded and children transported is difficult to imagine. The administration, concerned officers and the school authorities happily look the other way to the following illegalities intentionally being committed under their very nose for reasons which are obvious:

Overloading of school vehicles by at least two to three times their seating and licenced capacity;

Unserviceable, outdated and over 10-year-old vehicles, school buses, vans etc which should have been discarded, are still plying despite orders of Hon’ble Supreme Court and High Court putting life of schoolchildren to grave risk.

Vehicles are plying without registration and other documents and are having incomplete documents.

Keeping children standing for approximately one hour during journey which is inhuman.

Vehicles driven by incompetent drivers having no traffic sense.

Overcharging and fleecing of parents and providing poor transport service.

To put it specifically, Mr Jain says that his grandson is a student of LKG class of Bhartiya Vidhya Mandir, Kitchlu Nagar, Ludhiana. He travels to school in van No. PCR-5160 which is over 10-year-old, is unserviceable, apparently does not have valid documents and daily transports 40-45 children. The school has allotted parking space No-32 to this van licensed to carry 10 persons. Overloading can cause major accident. Children are made to stand. Whereas school starts at 7-55 a.m., the child is picked up at 6-40 a.m. Similarly, school closes at 12.55 p.m. but the van takes 75 minutes to reach home.

“We have brought these facts to the notice of Mr Gautam Gupta, school principal who seems to be helpless due to unionism of drivers and transporters and lack of willpower on the part of the administration to enforce the ‘rule of law’. It appeared the concerned authorities act after a tragedy and not before hand”.

Chandigarh, October 29
Born in a nondescript Deon village of Bathinda district, Mr Jagrup Singh Brar today joined the elite club of politicians in Canada by registering an impressive win in the provincial byelection in British Columbia, an important province in western Canada.

Contesting as a candidate of BC National Democratic Party, which was almost wiped out in the last provincial elections, Mr Brar defeated his nearest rival, Mary Polak, of BC Liberals party with a margin over 2500 votes. A few years ago, the National Democratic Party's Ujjal Dosanjh was elected as first Indo-Canadian Premier of British Columbia. But following the rout of the party in the last provincial elections, Mr Dosanjh had switched to Federal Liberals, another party.

Mr Brar bagged 6662 votes while Polak got 4160 votes. Mr Brar was the only non-white candidate for this election. The Surrey-Panorma Ridge seat, from which Mr Brar won, had fallen vacant following the resignation of Mr Gulzar Singh Cheema, who was elected last time on the Liberals’ ticket. Mr Gulzar had quit the seat to contest the parliamentary elections, which he lost.

Before immigrating to Canada about eight years ago, Mr Brar was a leading personality in the sports arena not only of Punjab but also in the country. Measuring about 6.6 feet in his socks, Mr Brar captained the PSEB basketball team for several years and played at the national level for over a decade.

Mr Brar also served in the Punjab Youth Affairs Department before shifting to Canada to join his elder brother, Mr Jaswant Singh, a known social activist there.

Patiala, October 29
The Punjab Finance Department has stopped the dispensation of salary to employees of as many as 27 departments in the city for the month of October as a temporary measure.

The Finance Department had ordered discontinuation of the salaries of the employees as a temporary measure following the failure of the departments to submit the dues from the Group Provident Fund to the treasury.

The Director, Finance, had written a letter on this issue on September 24 following which a decision was taken to stop the dispensation of the salaries of all the departments on September 29.

The Punjab Public Works Department (Building and Roads) Joint Action Committee has urged the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, to intervene in the matter claiming that the employees would be without money during the festival season in case the salaries were not released immediately.

JAC Convener Darshan Singh Lobana alleged that the salaries of the employees had been stopped on the directions of Finance Minister Surinder Singla, adding that the employees should not be held responsible for lack of appropriate action on the part of officers of their respective departments.

The salaries of the employees of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, the office of the Senior Superintendent of Police, Session Judge, Chief Engineer, PWD and Executive Engineers and Superintending Engineers of the PWD department have been stopped.

Besides this, the salaries of offices of the Commissioner, Excise, State Language Department, Commandant, Training School, Bahadurgarh, IGP, Commando, DIG, Administration and District Education Officer, Secondary and Primary departments besides some other offices have also been stopped.

Amritsar, October 29
Mr Parvez Illahi, the Chief Minister of the western Punjab (Pakistan), and the Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, would be honoured by Guru Nanak Dev University with honorary degrees in recognition of the commendable contribution for strengthening fraternity between East and West Punjabs, in a special convocation likely to be held in December.

This was announced here today by Dr S.P. Singh, Vice-Chancellor, while addressing the newly constituted Senate in the Senate Hall of the university, here today.

Mr Illahi would be visiting Patiala in connection with the World Punjabi conference, being hosted by Chief Minister in December. The Vice-Chancellor informed the House that the government had approved the university’s proposal to honour both Chief Ministers at a special convocation.

Highlighting the achievements of the university in various fields, Dr S.P. Singh said the NAAC had assessed 2,500 colleges of India so far and 38 colleges had been accredited with ‘A’ class. He said out of these 38 colleges, 12 colleges of the university had been accredited with highest grades. He said according to the assessment reports of the NAAC, the academic infrastructure of the colleges affiliated to the university was one of the best in the country. He said Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar, and HMV, Jalandhar, had been adjudged first and second, respectively by the NAAC.

Talking about the university placements, the Vice-Chancellor told Senators that more than 70 per cent students of Information Technology had been placed in various multi-national companies of repute.

Ludhiana, October 29
There does not seem to be an end to the recovery of explosives from the imported iron scrap as a huge number of containers filled with imported scrap are in the pipeline. The authorities already have got more than 10,000 explosives from the search of seven containers at the container freight station (CFS) Ludhiana which is also known as the dry port. The district administration is already worried over the recovery of such a huge amount of explosives.

Enquires made by The Tribune show that there are 400 containers lying at the CFS which are yet to be cleared. More containers are in the pipeline at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Port Trust, Mumbai.

Besides, 1500 containers are lying at the inland container depots of the Railways (Concord) at Tuglakabad and Ludhiana which are yet to be inspected and searched.

The authorities at the CFS Ludhiana are daily clearing about 80 containers and out of 400 containers nearly 150 have been cleared and delivered to industrialists of Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh.

There are 25 containers suspected to be carrying explosives out of which 14 are lying at the ICD Ludhiana and 11 with a private CFS at Ludhiana. These have not been touched so far for search operations. The district administration has approached the authorities of the Army at Jalandhar and Punjab Armed Police (PAP) for defusing the explosives recovered. The PAP personnel helped the district administration in segregating the explosives from the seven containers and more than 10,000 explosives are now lying in a corner at the Punjab Warehousing Corporation-run OFS.

Mr Anurag Verma, Deputy Commissioner, has been making efforts to get the recovered material defused and has held meetings with them. The Army authorities have reportedly assured the Deputy Commissioner of help in defusing the explosives after obtaining permission from the higher authorities.

Mr D.R. Bhatti, Additional Director General of PAP told this reporter that they were asked to segregate the explosives from containers and they had done the job.

Mr Bhatti expressed his helplessness in taking up disposal of the explosives because it was a huge
taks. “Our men are trained in defusing small bombs like IEDs and not war material”, he maintained.

The district authorities are worried over the delay in starting the work on defusing the explosives since they are not sure how many explosives are live.

Enquiries further show that the
industrialist have been importing scrap from war-hit areas at the rate of $ 130 per tonne and the non-war zone imported scrap is available at $ 240 per tonne. One labourer was killed in a factory a few days ago and one worker was killed in a blast at Mandi Gobindgarh only yesterday. Earliest, too, one person was killed in a factory at Mandi
Gobindgarh a few days ago.

Neembuan (Dera Bassi), October 29
The live bomb that remained in a cover of tight security on the bed of a seasonal rivulet for 20 days was destroyed here this afternoon by a team of Army personnel with the help of 45 Punjab police personnel.

A bomb disposal squad from the Army cantonment, Jalandhar, visited the site and dug a 10-foot-deep pit on the river bed for safely destroying the bomb weighing about 85 kg. An earth-moving machine took about 15 minutes to dig the pit. Under the guidance of Army personnel, three Punjab police personnel shifted the bomb to the pit from the place where it was found on October 9.

The bomb disposal squad checked it and subsequently an area within 300 metres radial distance from the bomb was cordoned off. Mr Satpal Sharma, in charge of the Lohgarh police post, deployed cops at various places to restrain villagers from approaching the site. The entire area was evacuated of farmers working in fields and shepherds grazing cattle there.

A village road linking Neembuan and Haripur Kuran villages was also blocked for vehicular traffic and pedestrians. Mediapersons were directed to be at a safe distance of about 200 metres from the bomb.

The bomb disposal squad used some chemicals and equipment, which led to a big blast.

Amritsar, October 29
The eight-day long “Saanjh Amritsar-Lahore festival” concluded here last night with the staging of play “Ek Thi
Naani” by Ajoka Theatre, Lahore.

Written by Shahid Nadeem and directed by Madeeha Gauhar the play is semi-biographical in nature featuring towering theatre personalities like Zohra Sehgal and Uzra Butt. It evoked an emotional response from audience at Punjab
Naatshala.

The play is inspired by true life story of Zohra and
Uzra. Both of them started their careers in Bombay (now Mumbai) in 1930. However, after Partition they separated. Uzra migrated to Pakistan and Zohra stayed back. The play was first performed in 1993.

The story unfolds when a naani visits her sister, the
daadi, who lives a quiet and conservative life as a house wife. Their common granddaughter became a bone of contention as she wanted to become an actress and the daadi did not like that. But the
naani, herself a veteran actress, stood against the conservative ideas and helped her to become an actress.

The granddaughter’s role was played by Samia
Mumtaz, the real granddaughter of Uzra.

Jalandhar, October 29
Agitated activists of the Dehati Mazdoor Sabha, Punjab, today blocked traffic in the busy BMC Chowk of the city after they failed to handover the memorandum of their demands to the Deputy Commissioner.

The workers of the sabha who were sitting over a protest dharna against the withdrawal of the Shagun scheme and withholding of pension of widows and senior citizens by the state government outside the office of the Jalandhar Division Commissioner for the past five days, today marched towards the Deputy Commissioner office to handover the memo of their demands. However, perturbed over his absence the activists resorted to traffic blockade causing hardships to the commuters for at least an hour.

While lambasting the Punjab government for its failure to fulfill the poll promises made by the Congress, Baldev Noorpuri of the sabha demanded guaranteed work for the labourers, strengthening of public
distribution system to ensure essential commodities for the poor at half rates, restoration of widows, old-age and handicap pensions, restoration of shagun scheme, allotment of five marlas plot each to the landless families and stoppage of exploitation of labourers at the hands of the police and landlords.
— PTI

Sangrur, October 29
Activists of district unit of the Lal Jhanda Bhatha Workers Union (CITU), Punjab, led by Mr Dev Raj Verma, secretary, Punjab unit of the CITU, today took out a march and organised a dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office, here in support of their demands, which included restarting of brick-kilns in the state and implementation of labour laws.

They also raised slogans in support of their demands. Mr Dev Raj Verma said about 3,000 brick-kilns in Punjab were not manufacturing bricks as the brick-kiln owners were on strike against the use of fly ash. He said the closure of brick-kilns had made about three lakh labourers, working on these brick-kilns, unemployed and they were facing a situation of starvation.

Speaking on the occasion, other leaders also urged the government to take steps to make the brick-kilns operational in the state. They also stated that due to closure of brick-kilns, common people felt that they were being fleeced at the hands of brick-kiln owners.

Among others who also addressed the dharna included Mr Ram Singh, vice-president of CITU, Punjab; Mr Ram Singh Sangherra, president of Lal Jhanda Bhatha Workers Union (CITU), Punjab; and Mr Balbir Singh, general secretary of district unit of the Lal Jhanda Bhatha Workers Union (CITU).

Phagwara, October 29
The local journalists today decided to boycott the entire SAD leadership and their functions in protest against the objectionable behaviour of an advisor of Bibi Jagir Kaur with a local journalist.

The decision was taken in a meeting presided over by veteran journalist Mr TD Chawla.

It was alleged that Bibi Jagir Kaur remained a mute spectator when her advisor made uncharitable remarks against the journalist. The meeting resolved to continue the boycott till Bibi Jagir Kaur apologised on behalf of her advisor.

Sangrur, October 29
After the detection of 13 cases of jaundice in the local Adarsh Mohalla and Nabha Gate Phirni road area in the past few days, the new cases of jaundice from different areas of the town have been detected by the local Civil Hospital.

A jaundice-affected pregnant woman from Nabha Gate was admitted to the Civil Hospital. She was referred to Rajindra Hospital, Patiala.

Dr Anup Kad, SMO, Civil Hospital, said two cases of mild jaundice had been detected in the Surgical OPD of the hospital.
— TNS

The notice was issued on a contempt petition moved by IPS officer Neelabh Kishore, seeking action against the officers for deliberate and willful disobedience of High Court orders dated August 9, 2004.

In its order, a Division Bench had directed the Punjab government to remove all non-cadre officers from cadre posts and submit compliance report in this matter. The Bench had ordered that postings on cadre posts be made only as per the IPS Cadre Rules, 1954.

In his petition, Mr Kishore brought to the notice of the court that despite the fact that no stay has been granted by the Supreme Court on the High Court order, the respondent-officers have failed to implement the order.

Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Gurminder Singh informed the Court of Mr Justice Virender Singh that nine non-cadre (PPS) officers continue to be posted as police chiefs of districts while another PPS officer is Commandant of 82nd battalion of Punjab Armed Police. All these posts are cadre posts.

He said that while the government has filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court, the High Court order has not been stayed. Mr Gurminder Singh stated that by not posting cadre officers on cadre posts, the Punjab Government is continuing with willful and deliberate violation of the Court’s order.

He said that the officers who have been made respondent by his client should have taken steps for immediate implementation of the High Court order but they chose to ignore the same. He said that these officers are guilty of committing contempt of court and should be punished.

After hearing him, Mr Justice Virender Singh issued notice for contempt to the officers for December 13.

Bathinda, October 29
The local District Legal Services Authority will organise legal services week from November 3 to 9.

Giving this information Mr K.C. Puri, district and sessions judge and chairman, DLSA, said six seminars and two Lok Adalats would be organised.

Mr Puri said the first seminar would be organised on November 3 at Shaheed Samark Girls College, Rampura Phul, second seminar on November 4 in Central jail, Bathinda, third on November 5 at Bhai Asa Singh Girls college, Goniana, fourth on November 6 in Court Complex Talwandi Sabo, fifth on November 8 at SSD Girls College, Bathinda, and sixth on November 9 in Courts Complex, Bathinda.

He further disclosed that out of the two Lok Adalats one would be organised on November 6 at Courts Complex, Talwandi Sabo and second on November 9 in district courts, Bathinda.

Chandigarh, October 29
Mr Balwinder Singh Sidhu, is the new Director of Agriculture, Punjab. He will take over from, Dr Ajmer Singh, who retires on October 31.

Mr Sidhu at present is Joint Director, engineering wing in the Department of Agriculture. He is the first engineer to head the important post.

Talking to TNS today, Mr Sidhu, said through intra-department net-working, the focus would be on diversification, sustainability of rice-wheat system, given the assured price, and procurement mechanism till proper alternate crops adjustment schemes were available. His priority areas would also be ‘’double’’ zero tillage programme, which means sowing of wheat or without first ploughing the stubble-infested fields but sowing the two crops directly as the field is ploughed.

“This zero tillage programme was adopted in five lakh hectares last year, resulting in farmers saving diesel worth Rs 42 crore.’’ His other chief concern was conservation of soil and water. As an expert in water management, Mr Sidhu would propagate ‘’bed planting’’ to save water and also introduce the concept of ‘’leaf-colour’’ charts for need-based application of nitrogenous fertilisers.

Mr Sidhu, born in 1957 in a small village, Kamalu Swaitch, in Bathinda, backwater district in the south-west , matriculated from a government school, Dandari Kalan, and went on to join the College of Agricultural Engineering at Punjab Agricultural University to obtain his B.Tech in 1977.

Rising from the ranks, having joined service as an agriculture inspector in soil conservation in 1977, he worked in the Punjab State Tubewell Corporation before joining the Department of Agriculture in 1987. There was no looking back, thereafter. Having worked in the field on bio-gas, his efforts won Faridkot district for two consecutive years national awards in bio-gas use in villages during his tenure there, 1987 to 1992.

After his post-graduate diploma in water use management with honours and gold medal from Roorkee University in 1991, he did his masters of engineering in 1992.

His major contribution as an engineer has been in the kandi area, stretching from Dera Basi to Dhar Block in Gurdaspur, where through the model of ‘’participatory irrigation management’’, he formed farmers’ cooperative societies and installed 117 deep tubewells.

From the low hills he moved to south-west, where drainage is a major problem, as water there is brackish. His work on introducing concept of ‘’skimming tubewells’’ that helped draw sweet water without disturbing the sub-soil brackish water won him the national award for ‘’irrigation extension’’ of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1998-99.

Chandigarh, October 29
Under a scheme of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Punjab will have seven more krishi vigyan kendras (KVKs) in addition to the existing 10.

A government press release today quoted the Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, as having said that this was approved by ICAR in view of the good work done by KVKs in imparting knowledge to farmers and village youth, men and women, in agriculture and allied fields.

Punjab has received some financial allocation for three of the KVKs — Amritsar, Muktsar and Ludhiana. The seven new approved stations for setting up new KVKs are Muktsar, Mansa, Jalandhar, Ropar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Moga and Amritsar.

Bathinda, October 29
Throwing a challenge to the might of the police, a section of activists of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahhan group) today brunt effigies of the Punjab Government in front of the Ballianwali police station, Chauke police post and in other parts of the district.

This despite the fact that police teams have been rounding them up since yesterday afternoon to prevent them from organising their ‘rail roko’ agitation on November 3 in the region.

The police has rounded up 12 activists of the union during the past 24 hours. Police teams have been raiding the premises of other activists, including leaders.

The activists seem to be playing a hide-and-seek game with the police as they brunt effigies of the Punjab Government in various villages to protest against arrests and registration of criminal cases against 100 members.

Mr Shingara Singh Bhuller, general secretary, of the union, talking to The Tribune on phone said that come what may, the BKU (Ekta) would organise its ‘rail roko’ agitation in the region on November 3 to lodge its protest against a sharp fall in the prices of raw cotton.

He alleged that preventive arrests of union activists being made by the police had proved that the state government was siding with those who had been looting the cotton growers by purchasing their produce at throwaway prices.

Mr Bhuller pointed out that preventive arrests being carried out by the police would not affect the morale of the organisation and the ‘rail roko’ agitation would be held on schedule.

Mr Kapil Dev, SSP, said the district police authorities would take all steps to maintain law and order. He added that action would be taken in connection with the BKU’s agitation on November 3 according to the situation.

Ropar, October 29
At least Rs 30 crore will be spent under the Japan Bank of International Coopera-tion (JBIC) project during the next three years on soil conservation and water management works, informed the Minister of Forests Hans Raj here last evening.

“Besides, with a view to increasing the vegetative cover and reducing soil erosion, forestation over 51,000 hectares has been undertaken under the JBIC project,” he said.

Giving details, he said Rs 6.50 crore had been incurred on soil conservation and water management works in the Shivalik area during the past two years. The measures undertaken included drystone masonry check dams, live hedges, cratewire structures in streams and measures to check landslides.

Patiala, October 29
Mayor Vishnu Sharma said today along with completion of multi-crore developmental works, the corporation would now concentrate on cleansing the inner city with a plan being drawn for the shifting of the junk and vegetable markets out of the city besides relocating dairies on the city’s outskirts.

Talking to mediapersons at a ‘jagaran’ held at his house and attended by Patiala mp Preneet Kaur besides others, the Mayor said all major developmental works were moving ahead in a time-bound schedule and areas in the outer colonies of the city had already been provided sewerage facilities.

Mr Sharma said the corporation had also gone in for a massive streetlighting drive with a few thousand points being installed all over the city, including slum areas. He said the augmentation of the water supply was already in progress with more than 20 new tubewells coming up in the city.

He said in the coming days stress would be laid on decongesting the inner city with the junk market being shifted out of the Bahera road to Transport Nagar. He said the land so vacated would be used as a parking area. He said plans had also been formulated to shift the vegetable market and dairies to the outskirts of the city and areas for this purpose had also been identified.

Chandigarh, October 29
Mr Charanjit Singh Walia, the new Chairman of the Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board, announced his plans to restructure the board to give a fillip to khadi and village industries in the state. This would not only generate employment opportunities for the rural youth, but also check the migration of people from villages to cities in search of jobs.

Addressing mediapersons here on Wednesday, Mr Walia, said he would be meeting the Chairman of the Khadi Commission of India, Rural Development Minister and the Chief Minister of Punjab to seek their help in revamping the board and making available necessary funds for the purpose.

He urged the state government and other financial agencies to provide loans and subsidies for the development of rural and small scale industries in the villages. Mr Walia admitted that constraint of funds had hampered the functioning of the board.

A series of exhibitions would be organised in the state to popularise the khadi products. One such national-level exhibition would be organised at Patiala in February on the occasion of Basant Panchami in collaboration with the North Zone Cultural Centre.

Mr Walia, who is also president of the Punjab State Services Federation, also announced that the Punjab State Services Federation, Punjab State Electricity Federation, Punjab Kirti Kisan Mazdoor Dal representing nearly seven lakh government, semi-government, industrial and agricultural employees, workers and farmers would be holding the 35th annual conference at Patiala on November 1, to urge the government to accept their demands. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh would be the chief guest at the conference.

Abohar, October 29
Mystery behind the killing of Gian Singh (67), a resident of Miami Basti, Fazilka, inside a gurdwara in a border village of Rajasthan has been solved with the arrest of Ajit Singh, son of Sarup Singh Granthi, and Harjinder Singh, son of Ranjit Singh officials claimed today.

Gian Singh had deserted his family after disposing of the agricultural land long ago, his whereabouts are not known since then.

According to information, Ajit Singh had migrated to the village located on the Karanpur-Padampur Road from Fetehabad (Haryana) and got a job of a granthi at gurdwara near the International Border. He had stayed with Harjinder Singh for a month before committing the murder.

They started regularly visiting the gurdwara Nanaksar Thath and came to know that Gurdeep Singh, manager of the gurdwara, had sold his tractor for Rs 2.5 lakh. They allegedly hatched a plan to get the money. First they conspired with Kewal Singh, an employee of the gurdwara.

As he could not succeed, both Ajit Singh and Harjinder Singh reportedly entered the gurdwara on the intervening night of October 19 and 20. They found a person sleeping near the sarovar and tried to identify him. He was Gian Singh. As Gian Singh on challenged them they shot him dead out of panic.

As Gurdeep Singh was on a personal visit to Punjab, the victim could not be identified. There was no entry in the visitors’ register. Later the relatives of the victim were informed but they refused to take the body. It was cremated by the police after three days.

Amir Hasan said a brother of Harjinder Singh (20) had been brutally killed by father Ranjit Singh. The victim was also a paathi at a gurdwara.

Investigations revealed that Ranjit Singh had married Lakhwinder Kaur after the death of Jasbir Kaur. Both had two sons each.

Mr Hasan said efforts to recover the locally manufactured revolver used for killing Gian Singh could not succeed as the water level in the canal was still high. The suspects had thrown the weapon in the canal.

Meanwhile, the managing committees of all gurdwaras located in the villages bordering Pakistan had been asked to maintain a record of the staff members with their photographs. They had also been directed to maintain the visitors’ register properly.

Malout, October 29
Even as the state government has been leaving no stone unturned to check bunglings in the procurement of paddy, a section of commission agents has found new ways to hoodwink procurement agencies in the process.

After having tried the method of filling sub-standard paddy in gunny bags belonging to procurement agencies and filling less quantity of paddy in the bags, a section of commission agents have started trying other methods to mint money at the cost of the state exchequer.

The new modus operandi of the commission agents in which they are hoodwinking procurement agencies is to increase the weight of the procured paddy bags by increasing the percentage of moisture by sprinkling water on the same. This come to light at the Panniwala Fatta purchase centre in Muktsar district.

Mr Hargobind Singh, DSP, Malout, said that a case against two business firms namely M/s B. M. Traders and M/s Satish Kumar Sham Sunder & Sons, was registered under Section 420 of IPC in this connection.

He pointed out that the accused had been taking out a considerable quantity of paddy from the procured paddy bags and then increasing the weight of the same by mixing water into them.

He said it was being investigated whether the fraud was being committed in connivance with the officials concerned. The accused had sprinkled water on about 12,000 procured paddy bags through a tractor-trailer.

He said as per the physical examination and other tests, the moisture content in these bags was found much more than the prescribed limits.

Bathinda, October 29
Baldev Kumar, an owner of a cold storage and resident of Rampura town of this district was killed in a road accident which took place on Bhucho-Rampura road section today, the district police chief Mr Kapil Dev has initiated departmental action against five personnel of highway patroling party for their negligence.

Information gathered by TNS revealed Baldev Kumar, who was riding on a scooter was killed when a private jeep ahead of his scooter came to a halt suddenly, he fell down on the road after his scooter hit the jeep. A car that was coming from the opposite direction hit Baldev who died on the spot. The private jeep, was signalled to stop by the highway patrol personnel, who were on duty.

Mr Dev said that a case has been registered under Sections 304-A and 427 of the IPC against Darshan Kumar, a resident of Bathinda town and Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Rampura town on the complaint lodged by Mr Jeewan Kumar, brother of the deceased at the Nathana police station.

He said action would be initiated against five police personnel, who were on highway patrol duty at the time of accident. They were Head Constable Balkaran Singh and Ishar Singh and Constables Jagjit Singh, Makhan Singh and Gurpreet Singh.

The accused had installed a computer at the residence of Madan Lal Sharma. Hardeep Singh would prepare fake certificates of various classes of Punjab and Himachal school education boards. The other accused would sell the same on exorbitant rates.

He said Balbir Singh had been arrested and two fake certificates seized from him. Madan Lal Sharma, the kingpin of the gang, had to dodged the police with his computer and other printing material.

Tarn Taran, October 29
With the active support of residents of Dera Sohal village, teachers of Government Elementary School nabbed a man posing as a CBI Inspector. He was demanding Rs 25,000 for writing a report in the favour of the school.

According to information, the police has registered a case under Section 170, 171, 420 of the IPC at Verowal police station here against the accused while his accomplice was absconding. He has been identified as Sawinder Singh of Bhail village falling under Goindwal police station.

Sawinder Singh along with his companion visited the school posing as CBI inspector on October 27. They pointed out various discrepancies and demanded Rs 25,000 as bribe. However, the headmaster expressed his inability to pay such a huge amount and asked him to come a day after.

However, the matter was settled for Rs 7,000 when Sawinder came to the school to take the money today. Teachers called the villagers who handed him over to the police.

Amritsar, October 29
The police arrested general secretary of the Punjab Youth Congress, Harjinder Singh Chouhan, late last evening for allegedly defrauding people on the pretext of providing them jobs in the Municipal Corporation. A case under Section 420 of the IPC has been registered.

He was remanded in police custody for one day by the court of Baljinder Singh, JMIC, here today.

Gurdip Singh, a resident of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar, alleged that the accused showed him his pictures with prominent leaders of the Congress, including Capt Amarinder Singh, and promised him a government job.

Another complainant, Mr Avtar Singh, alleged that Chouhan enrolled him as a party worker and introduced him to senior MLAs of the Congress belonging to Amritsar.

Sangrur, October 29
President of the Lehragaga Municipal Council Kahan Chand and his brother Shashi Kumar, have been booked in a cheating and forgery case under Sections 406, 420, 465, 468 and 120-B of the IPC. Mr Krishan Dev Singh
Bhutal, former chairman of Market Committee, Lehragaga, had lodged a complaint against them.

The Lehragaga police told The Tribune over the phone this evening that Mr Bhutal had alleged that Mr Kahan Chand, Mr Shahi Kumar and he were partners as contractor in some government works, including that of Lehragaga-Moonak road and a canal in 2002.

He also alleged that both brothers had cheated him by making “false” entries worth about Rs 8 lakh in the accounts of the works, the police added.

Tarn Taran, October 29
Tarlochan Singh (25), a resident of Naushehra Pannuan village, was killed on the spot when his motor cycle collided with a Punjab Roadways bus late last evening. The local sadar police has registered a case against Harjinder Singh, the driver of the bus.

According to the FIR, Tarlochan Singh was going to his village from here on his motor cycle (PB-05-C-9987) when it was hit by the bus (PB-12-C-9563), coming from the opposite side. The body was handed over to his family after post-mortem here today.

Batala, October 29
Darshan and his brother Kashmir Singh were injured in a fight that took place with their neighbour in the Hathi Gate area of Batala today.

Kashmir Singh, son of Sohan Singh, sustained serious injuries and was referred to Guru Nanak Hospital, Amritsar, by doctors of the local Civil Hospital. The neighbourers who attacked these two brothers fled away after locking their house.

Jagraon, October 29
A female member of a musical group has alleged rape by members of her troupe in the vehicle in which they were travelling.

According to SSP Jagraon Rajiv Ahir, Madhu, a resident of Street No. 39, Preet Nagar, had sent the female artiste for a programme with Jaswant Singh, alias Tota, of Sekhon Musical Group. But while on the way, Jaswant Singh and his two accomplices raped her.

Kharar, October 29
A woman died of burn injuries when a stove allegedly burst at her home in Lakhnaur village, near here, today. Babli (22), an expectant woman, was making tea when the stove burst and her clothes caught fire.

The victim was taken to a private hospital in Mohali. Her body was later taken to Kharar Civil Hospital for post-mortem.

Dr Sukhwinder Kaur, who carried out the post-mortem, said the death was due to 90 per cent burns. The police has initiated action under Section 174 of the CrPC.

Teams from nearly 15 colleges participated in the preliminary round in which five teams were selected for the final round.

Most of the questions pertained to the struggle for Independence from the year 1905 to 1936, Bangladesh partition, as well as activities of the Gadhar Party, the Babbar Akali Party, the Parja Mandal, the Bharat Mata Society, the Kirti Party and the Naujawan Bharat Sabha.

The team from the PTM Arya College, Noormahal, was declared the winner. The team from the Government Education College, Jalandhar, stood second and the team from the Sikh National College, Banga, came third.

Consolation prizes went to the SD College, Jalandhar, and the Mehar Chnad Polytechnic College, Jalandhar.

Prof Waryam Singh Sandhu conducted the quiz contest.

Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, veteran freedom fighter and president of the Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Trust, said that inter-college music competitions would be held tomorrow.

Kapurthala, October 29
A parasailing and artillery display was organised for the students of Sainik School here today.

The cadets enjoyed tank rides and parasailing. On the occasion, the Army Armed Corps exhibited tanks, BMP-II abd MMGs. Cadets were also given opportunity to enter the tanks and understand their working principles.

They were also given first hand knowledge about various MMGs and grenade launchers. They were told about different types of tanks, their fuel capacity, range, armament and strike range.

Col Sandeep Kumar, Principal, Sainik School, said the programme was organised to motivate the cadets to join the Armed Forces and to promote interaction between families of Air Force and Army personnel.

The programme was held with the initiative of Ms Sunita Sharma, President, Air Force Wives’ Welfare Association.

On the occasion, Mr Rakesh Kumar Verma, Deputy Commissioner, also participated in the parasailing to motivate the cadets. Sqn Ldr A.K. Srivastava, headmaster of the school, and Capt
R.K. Goyat, Registrar, were also present.

Bathinda, October 29
Summit Gill was elected president of the local unit of the Punjab Students Union (Shaheed Randhawa group) at Rajindra College here yesterday.

In a press note, Sukwinder Singh, president, regional committee, PSU, said that a 22-member committee had been elected in the presence of students of the college, which would work for the acceptance of college-level demands of students.

He said as bus transporters had started harassing students, they had decided to protest against the transporters. He further said that the union would also support the protest by teachers of aided colleges.